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AEGEAN-LEVANTINE TRADE, 600–300 BCE
Commodities, Consumers, and the Problem of Autarkeia
Peter van Alfen
Introduction
A frequently occurring trope in Athenian comedy is the list enumerating var-
ious things, sometimes at comically ridiculous length. Hermippus’ well-known
fragment, for example, two dozen lines long, catalogues an equal number of
items imported to Athens, from fine Carthaginian textiles to Paphlagonian
acorns, ‘the ornaments of a feast’ (fr. 63 K-A; apud Ath. 1.27e-28a). These lists
appear in different contexts in the comedies, but many are linked to the mar-
ket, like the cook’s grocery list.^1 Whatever their dramatic or literary function,
these lists share the common trait of highlighting for the audience goods from
their material world, some quite mundane, others far more exotic. While lists,
or even the mention of various goods, are nothing new to ancient literature,^2
the inclusion of all types of commodities in these comedic lists is noteworthy.
When Homer, for example, spoke of goods he gravitated towards the pres-
tige items, like weapons, silverware, and fine textiles, owned and traded by his
elite protagonists.^3 In comedy of the fifth and fourth centuries these prestige
items also appear, but so does everything else imaginable, reflecting the fact
that as denizens of the world’s greatest emporion, Athenian shoppers had access
to nearly everything the ancient world had to offer in terms of food, clothes,
durable goods, and art.^4 Perhaps then we can detect in the exuberance of these
lists a celebratory undertone, certainly one of language, but also one of bounty.
If so, we have recorded in these lists, maybe for the very first time anywhere,